The Andre Hauptfleisch bred champion Via Africa came up with her very first G1 winner when her three-year-old son In The Congo romped home to a facile win in Saturday’s $1 million G1 XXXX Golden Rose (1400m) at Rosehill.

A colt by four times Australian champion sire Snitzel (represented in South Africa by Ascot Stud’s G1 winning stallion Heavenly Blue), In The Congo put a top-class field to the sword in Saturday’s Golden Rose.
Under Tim Clark, In The Congo kept up an energy sapping gallop to defeat the favourite Anamoe by a long-head with one and a quarter length back to Coastwatch third.
A $350 000 buy from the 2020 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale, In The Congo, who was bred by Nordic Racing and Breeding, came into Saturday’s race having finished a neck behind Anamoe in the G2 XXXX Run To The Rose, with the colt having previously won the G3 XXXX San Domenico Stakes.
In total, In The Congo has now won three times and finished second three times in his first six starts.
Via Africa, a daughter of the now pensioned Var and Qui Danzig mare Bump ‘N Grind, was South Africa’s Equus Champion Sprinter of 2014, winning ten of just 16 starts in South Africa, including the G1 Cape Flying Championship and two runnings of the G1 South African Fillies Sprint.

A half-sister to Listed KwaZulu-Natal Stakes runner up Elusivenchantment, Via Africa also ranks the dam of the smart Hong Kong galloper Pleasant Endeavor (sired by Snitzel’s own sire Redoute’s Choice).

Via Africa, who was last covered by The Autumn Sun, has a What A Winter half-sister (Lot 4) on the 2021 CTS Ready To Run Sale.